Thorpe | |
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The centre of the village occupies the extreme left of this aerial photograph showing the Thorpe Interchange of the two motorways passing through the edge of the village. |
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Conservation area scene: the church and preserved square |
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Thorpe shown within Surrey | |
Population | 5,465 (2011 Census. Ward) |
OS grid reference | TQ019685 |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Egham |
Postcode district | TW20 |
Dialling code | 01932 |
Police | Surrey |
Fire | Surrey |
Ambulance | South East Coast |
EU Parliament | South East England |
UK Parliament | |
Thorpe is a village in Surrey, England, between Egham and Chertsey. It lies just inside the circle of the M25, near the M3, and its ward covers 856 hectares (2,120 acres). The River Bourne or Chertsey Bourne flows through the south of village. To the south-east of the village is Thorpe Park, one of England's largest theme parks, which is also a watersports centre. Its second-tier local authority, Runnymede, is a largely suburban area and Thorpe has never had a civil parish.
Thorpe is buffered by fields, lakes and woods to all sides (apart from its linear neighbourhood of Thorpe Green) leading to Virginia Water railway station. A very short frontage is provided in terms of borders, to the River Thames to the east, in favour of frontage of outskirts of the larger towns of Chertsey and Egham which border Thorpe to the south and north. Its former rural community partly remains following the construction of nearby motorways and gravel pit extraction. In particular buildings pre-dating 1850 form much of the core of the village centre which is a conservation area. Given the railway line and M25 in the far west of Thorpe, and the M3 to the south, much land use is designated road or buffer, and a considerable amount is taken up by one of the largest theme parks in England, Thorpe Park. This is also a watersports centre and one of its five main lakes can be accessed from boat landing stages from the village centre directly.
Elevations are modest but not flat, ranging between 14 and 20m Ordnance Datum as much of the area lies on thin alluvium overlying gravel beds laid over millennia by the River Thames which adjoins the traditional parish to the east.